Reflections of a Father
by NRATQH
Summary: Because that is what Splinter ultimately is. A father. It is the task he has fallen into but while the label itself is simple and similar to any other who are called the same, their circumstances however make it completely NOT. There are no dummy guides on how to care for mutant humanoid turtles, especially for a mutant humanoid rat. (Featuring Splinter and his sons)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: All of the events written are a product of my own imagination and head canons but all of them were written with 2 intentions

1) The first being to explore the posibillities of their childhood while relating them to canon characteristics in the 2003 and 2012 series as closely as possible.

2) To break the stereotypes the Fandom has created for each of the turtles and devise conflicting events that can still be connected intimately with their Canon Characters.

...

Splinter remembers the early years of his sons life perfectly. He's not sure if it's a consequence of his mutation or a natural effect of his animal talents but he is thankful for it nonetheless. Especially since his memories of their childhood had always been the best anchor and comfort for him in their most difficult times. Not to mention a perfect point of reference for his sons if and when they needed to settle any old arguments (which was a lot more common than you would think. But than again they were teenagers and grudges die hard)

Speaking of grudges, he remembers the time Donatello- the most passive of his son's- had once held a grudge on Leonardo for 3 weeks straight. Which for splinter meant 3 weeks of pointed silences and nasty remarks spoken under ones breath with remarkable coherence (trust Donatello to be able to pronounce the insult 'coccydynia' with perfect pronunciation at the ripe age of 4)

The 3rd week of silent treatment only ended after Leonardo promised not to make Donatello do anything he didn't want to do anymore (the blue donned turtle did have an apt for being bossy at times) followed by a contracted agreement that every half of his desserts had to be shared for the rest of the week. Donatello rarely ever fought with his brothers but when he did he made absolutely sure he won hands down.

Instead most arguments between the boys would usually revolve around Michelangelo and Raphael. Though calling them arguments would be an understatement. Leonardo prefered the term all out war and Donatello didn't care what it was called as long as he wasn't involved in it. Which is why it wasn't a surprise to come home to the lair in complete shambles and Splinter did mean that quite vehemently, frequently referring to the time the 6 year old orange and red masked turtles under his charge had managed to coat the ceiling in trash and 3 week old rotting food that Raphael had apparently been keeping hidden for the right time to strike revenge on his brother.

Unfortunately the mess and smell was a permanent disfigurement of their than current home which lead to Splinter promptly moving them to a different location. They were both never punished but the look on Splinter's face when he realized they had to move again sooner than he had planned would make anyone squirm in shame. To their credit, they managed to keep their fights beyond the doors of their household from than on and never again was such a feat ever repeated.

Except of course that time Leonardo and Raphael had a competition of who was better and came out of said contest with 5 sets of bruises each, a sprained ankle, split lips, a concussion and a twisted elbow between them both. Not to mention the rows upon rows of uprooted plants that splinter had been growing for some added nutritional value for their diet. For that one both of them were cruelly punished with 3 extra hours of practice and 200 flips each and since it was a time before any of them actually _liked_ training it was grueling and torturous work that neither enjoyed.

Than there was that time Michelangelo and Leonardo had a contest to see who could create the most complicated number of pranks before getting caught and to their credit they had gone about it quite creatively for a pair of 8 yeare olds. As punishment Splinter forbade both of them from comparing the final count on pain of 500 hundred flips each. Though Donatello- who was the only one keeping count- smugly shared the results with Raphael who howled with laughter at the fact that though they had made an impressive amount of pranks, Splinter punishing them was due to the fact that the last one resulted in all the hair on his back being shaved off (something the other 2 never noticed since Splinter was very obsessive about wearing his robe for quite some time after).

Of course Donatello and Raphael, despite getting along well and ganging up for a few practical jokes of their own coupled with time spent on scavenging for parts in the sewer tunnels for their pet projects, did have one fight that had the potential to create irreversible damage to their relationship had not Leonardo and Michelangelo not intervened (underneath the watchful eye of their Master)

It had been a few weeks till winter of their 8th year together and Donatello had finally been able to rig the heating system for their new home to work. An achievement he was unshakeably proud of and was eager to show to Splinter. But Raphael, being the biggest among them, had been doing most of the heavy lifting that Donatello's scrawny build could not accomplish and had felt slighted when his brother did not speak of any of his assistance at all to Master Splinter (especially when he had been trying so hard to make up for his short temper in time for Christmas). This lead to a fierce quarrel between them both and silent feuds followed. Miscommunication predictably occurred during the rest of their time spent fixing up the heater controls and irrevocable damage was done to the restoration process.

Donatello was devastated. He'd been working on it for close to 2 months, scribbling plans in scraps of paper, glossing over water logged books for the proper equations and measurements required and all for his effort to come to nothing.

To Splinter's surprise, both turtles showed grave remorse and only blamed themselves for what had happened. Though it took a while for Michelangelo to coax Donatello out of his bundle of blankets and convince him to give it another try. Splinter could survive without a proper heating system but he knew his son needed to learn to never give up in the face failure if he were ever to become the successful scientist he seemed to aspire to be.

Furthermore, self pity was a potentially dangerous past time for ones in a predicament such as theirs and one that he refused to allow his sons to enjoy no matter how terrible the circumstances.

It took some of harsh reprimands and gentle cajoling but eventually Donatello emerged inspired and ready to get to work, while at the same time holding out a hand of acknowledgement towards Raphael who took it gladly and the heaters were up and running by the end of the week.

Though they usually did their share of trouble in pairs or even all together, it was a rare thing for one of them to be scolded for an individual crime and despite the others claiming him to be a teacher's pet and as Raphael would call him- 'Splinter junior'- none of them had been punished in such a way more than Leonardo.

At first it was for simple things like ordering his brothers around or being snobbish and supercilious. Than it turned into punishments for leading his brothers or brother into dangerous situations he knew better than to usher them too. Though he could swear in some of those circumstances Raphael or even Donatello would be the one shifting guiltily under the interrogations of who was their guide in such escapades not Leonardo who he noticed would spare them a glance before straightening and remorsefully declare himself responsible.

There were only a handful of times when he was absolutely sure that Leonardo was telling the truth. One of them was the time he discovered his sons huddled together blue and shivering under 5 layers of blankets near the heaters. He found out (to his alarm!) that Leonardo had taken them to play with snow in one of the tunnels that had broken off near the edge of a forest, which allowed for mounds of the white frozen droplets from previous snow days to pile up temptingly against the walls. Never having experienced snow before the young turtles had been ecstatic in their venture and played and frolicked to their hearts content. But the shock of exposure they had allowed themselves to endure (and the unusually irresponsible decision on Leonardo's part) had horrified Splinter. But he was loath to admit to himself some time later that the penalty he had incurred on Leonardo was much more severe than he actually deserved especially concerning his obviously noble intent of simply wishing for his brothers to enjoy a rare moment they had yet to experience.

Than there were times when they would gang up against each other but those never lasted long. They fluctuated between something as serious as the time Leonardo was left out from his siblings due to being overbearing and a tattle tale to silly like the time Donnatello and Raphael messed with the security system to lock Leonardo and Michelangelo out as payback for a water balloon fight they hadn't been prepared for. Which the latter promptly repaid by planting intelligently devised booby traps for them for a whole week.

But to remember the good times one would also need to remember the bad just as flawlessly and when splinter looks back he can still recall vividly the events that occurred that drove each of them to derive the personality they had now.

However those memories were far less pleasent for him to reminisce than the ones currently passing through his mind. He did not like to revisit them if he could help it but sometimes he had to. Because sometimes-for the sake of his sanity- he needed to know, that if he looked back at the decisions that he had made concerning those events, they were not ones he could bring himself to resent no matter how much he has suffered for them.

Perhaps in those moments it is his pride that is speaking for him. But he'll take what is given and he will not ask for more and what joy his sons have had has given him enough to be grateful for.

...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There will be a part 2 where you can read about those decisions yourself. Hope you enjoyed it 😊


End file.
